Residence permit card (UT card)

When granted a residence permit, you will receive a residence permit card which proves that you have permission to be in Sweden. The card features a microchip that contains your fingerprints and photograph.

Get photographed and fingerprinted

Everyone who is receiving a residence permit card need to be photographed. Children under the age of six are not required to provide their fingerprints. Those who do not have the physical ability, for example, due to permanent injury to the fingers, are also not required to provide fingerprints. The fingerprints and photograph are stored only on the card's chip and are not stored anywhere else. For this reason, it is necessary to be fingerprinted and photographed each time you need a new residence permit card.

If you are not in Sweden

If you do not require a visa to travel to Sweden, you will be photographed and fingerprinted in Sweden. You should visit an office of the Swedish Migration Board as soon as possible after you have received a residence permit and have arrived in Sweden

When the card is ready

If you have been photographed and fingerprinted at the Embassy, you will receive the card there within four weeks. If you have been photographed and fingerprinted at a Swedish Migration Board office, your card will be sent to your homeaddress within a week.

It is not possible to speed up the production or delivery of the card.

When you travel

When you travel, show the card along with your passport. The card cannot be used as an identification document or travel document.

Period of validity

You will get a new residence permit card each time you receive a new residence permit or an extension to an existing residence permit. The card is valid for as long as your residence permit, but never for more than five years. When you require a new residence permit card, you will be photographed and fingerprinted again.

If you lose the card

If you lose your residence permit card, you should first report this to the police. You should then visit the Swedish Migration Board in order to be photographed and fingerprinted for a new card. Please bring your passport and a copy of the police report with you.

If you have a sticker in your passport

If you have a sticker in your passport that is still valid you may use it for travel. The sticker in your passport remains valid until it expires, but not beyond the 20th of May 2015.

If you have a sticker in your passport, and the passport has expired, you should visit the Swedish Migration Board, once you have your new passport, in order to be photographed and fingerprinted for a residence permit card.